Even though Egon had started the match, neither Reno nor Jai moved.

Both were observing the moves of their opponent.

While Reno wasn’t well versed in swordsmanship or swordplay.

Reno let out some air through his nose, not daring to move an inch.

‘I’m not good at swordplay or the sort.’

‘From basic common sense and some movies I’ve watched, however.'

'I know those who usually move first rush into fights unprepared.’

‘Are usually never the victors. Be it in games, stories, or even real life.’

Seeing no movement from Reno. Jai was confused.

‘Why is he not rushing in? From what I know, his sword art activates the more hits he gets off?’

‘Well… that’s fine as well. As a katana wielder, close range is my forte. Makes no sense to move from where I am.’

Waiting a few more seconds, Reno realized that Jai was trying to play the long game.

The time that Jai had given Reno. It was more than enough for him to formulate a plan.

Reno changed from the hilt of ‘Grieving Maiden’ to the sword he had before.

Then in one swift move, he threw the blade straight at Jai.

Jai wasn’t expecting Reno to throw his weapon but as he was still on guard, he easily counterattacked.

[Doyle’s Sword Art: Unwavering Knight]

Jai unsheathed his sword and blocked the sword that was flying at him.

‘Foolishness! I can’t believe just because he’s weak that he resorted to flinging away his weapon.’

‘Well, at least this will be an easy win for me.’

Not wasting any time, Reno rushed in as Jai had blocked his sword and started to make assumptions.

[Stab]

Jai was startled. ‘Fuck! He put back the first sword so I thought something was wrong with it!’

He quickly tried the block the attack and happened to succeed.

Even though he blocked it, he was still pushed back some distance.

He was about to put his hand back on his sheath but stopped.

He noticed that some blood was leaking from the side of his mouth.

Along with a feeling of his body screaming out in pain.

Jai then quickly wiped off the blood.

‘I’m hurt? No, that can’t be.’

‘I’ve blocked all Reno’s attacks so far. My sword art also specializes in enhancing my defense.’

‘Must be a fluke. Still… Better I go all out from now.’

Jai was about to go all out but Reno didn’t waste any of his momentum and made sure not to allow that.

‘I saw him wiping blood from his mouth. He must be injured already.’

‘I don’t know how strong he is so I’ll make sure to take him out from now.’

[Cut]

‘Grieving Maiden’ had to be certified so that Reno could carry it with him around the academy.

To make sure that nothing that could end up with someone dying occurred.

The blade of ‘Grieving Maiden’ had a sort of attachment that dulled its sharpness.

This time, Jai didn’t make it in time to block Reno’s strike.

Even so, he didn’t think that it would end up harming him too much and he would at least be able to continue the match.

He was wrong.

When ‘Grieving Maiden’ collided with his head and body, he ended up smashing into the ground.

The momentum of the hit wasn’t finished there are he rebounded from the stone training ground.

Reno then followed up with another [Cut]

This time, launching Jai straight out of the training arena and onto the ground of the room.

Looking at Jai’s current state, Egon shook his head and then walked over to Reno.

‘Reno Mochizuki is the winner! Next up is **’

Even though Egon was calling out the names of other students to come up and fight.

Most of the ones that were watching the match were in awe.

“If I saw that right, then did Jai go down in two hits!?”

“Did Reno use any energy at all!?”

“Is this really Reno!? When did he get so strong!”

Hearing all these comments, Grania nodded her head with a smug grin.

“All in a day’s work for my boy Reno. Light day’s work as a matter of fact.”

Seeing this, Reno smiled lightly before shaking his head.

He then heard teacher Egon call out to him.

“Catch this.”

Reno turned around to see a bottle of healing potion being thrown at him.

Egon then stood back at the side of the stage.

“I have to supervise the matches, the winner of each match can administer the potion to the loser.”

Reno nodded and then went over to check on Jai.

What he saw could give him nightmares.

His face looked like he had been tortured for weeks on end with how much blood and tissue was coming out.

Reno looked around the flesh ba- face, trying to find out where the mouth was located.

He did this for around a minute before giving up and plugging the potion into whatever orifices looked closest to the mouth.

In some seconds, Jai’s face had been restored to how it had looked before.

If anything, the most notable change was the look of fear that he had when looking at Reno.

‘Monster! Demon! Ogre! I don’t even know what else.’

‘Is this an imposter? Or was Reno holding back the entire time?’

Reno then reached out his hand to Jai.

“Are you alright?”

Jai got scared when he saw Reno reaching out his hand but calmed down when he saw that he was trying to help.

Even so, he decided to get up off the ground by himself.

He then quickly bowed to Reno and ran out of the training arena.

‘I thought I could take some of his blows but I was crazy in that moment.’

‘The moment his blade touched my head, It was like a building smashed into me.’

Egon saw Jai leaving but as he lost, he didn’t have any reason to remain in the sparring session.

Reno put his sword back in his sheathe and started to walk over to where Grania was.

‘I didn’t expect to mutilate the guy’s head with cut. I even held back a bit.’

Reno was a bit scared but also the feeling of beating someone exhilarated him.

On his way back, he realized that a lot of people were paying attention to him.

‘Eh, I’m used to it at this point.’

‘Having to deal with bounty hunters are much more annoying than the gaze of some students.’

Grania welcomed Reno back with a fist bump.

Reno accepted and the two began chatting again.

What both of them failed to notice, however.

Was that Chasin was glaring at them like they were the bane of his existence?

‘He’s stronger than I thought but that’s all.’

‘I’m already at the level of E- rank. Along with my great sword that’s at the level of A rank. I’ll easily win this dumb sparring match.’

'Even so, never hurts to be a bit more cautious'

Chasin then began laughing.

He then continued for a while before a tap on his shoulder made him stop.

Chasin looked beside him to see a girl who had yellow eyes along with purple-colored hair.

“My girl friends called me over and said you wanted to talk about something."

"What might our class’ strongest need with a petite lady such as myself.”

Chasin cringed at this way of talking.

“You should stop talking like that Flora. I’ve known you since I was in my first year at the academy.”

Flora laughed.

“I didn’t ask for comments, I asked what you want?”

Chasin’s attitude shrunk a bit with Flora’s sudden shift.

“I need you or any of your friends to help me weaken Reno and his friend.”

Flora giggled. “Is our class’ strongest afraid of facing two annoyances.”

Chasin gritted his teeth. “It’s just to be sure, I could easily beat both of them if I wanted to.”

Flora then tapped her smartwatch.

“You know my fee. Teacher Egon’s the one calling the shots though.”

“He’s never been bribed or coerced by any student before.”

Chasin rolled his eyes. “When has something like that ever been a problem for you, the queen of our class.”

Flora giggled again.

“Glad to see that you know I always get shit done. Pleasure doing business with you.”

Flora Clover. A natural-born manipulator.

The kind that crushes anyone or anything that doesn’t follow her orders to a T.

She hated situations that she had no authority over.

‘Those two are the only ones in class that I have no control over.’

‘Reno Mochizuki doesn’t seem that interesting.’

‘He is stronger than what he’s shown previously but I already have Chasin.’

Flora then licked her lips. ‘Grania Hattie is the real prize here.’

‘I couldn’t believe my ears when I found out that she was a part of the Hattie family.’

Flora’s control over Reno’s class was not small. She had many admirers, male and female who were at her beck and call.

In a sense, even though Egon was the actual teacher.

He was more like her assistant when comparing their control of the classroom.

Flora then went around talking to some of the students in the class.

‘Match set. People are always the easiest to control like sheep when their pride and spirits are broken.’

‘When Grania loses to Chasin, I’ll take the girls to comfort her. Eventually, she leaves that Reno guy and forgets about him.’

The match that had been going on, had come to a finish.

It was between a swordsman mage and a sniper. The sniper had come out on top.

Egon then called upon two students to go up and start a match.

“Grania Hattie and Isla Willow to the stage.”

Seeing this, Flora smiled.

‘Looks like today’s a great day. Isla is strong enough to last for some time against Grania.’

‘She will be perfect for wearing out Grania so that Chasin can brutally beat her up when the time comes.’

When the two were at the center of the stage.

Isla went over to Grania.

“As you’ve heard, I’m Isla Willow. I hope that we both have a good match.”

She then held out her hand for Grania to shake it.

With no hesitation whatsoever, Grania shook her hand.

“Me too.”

When Isla saw this, she smiled on the inside.

The two then went back to their spots.

Isla was still grinning inside her mind.

‘This girl is so dumb! I was easily able to drug her.’

‘Mr Egon didn’t ban the use of them, so the non-lethal ones that we’re able to use in the academy should slide.’

Seeing both people in place, Egon raised his hand in the air.

“We’ll begin in 3!”

“2!”

Grania began feeling a bit dizzy.

‘Bweh, Twisty sprials are turning!?’

‘Am I in de palace void?’

When Reno didn’t see Grania taking her great axe off her back, he became a bit worried.

‘Is something going on?’

‘1!”

“Begin the match!”